11.22.63

On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was killed in Dallas and the world changed forever. But what if it could be changed back? James Franco stars as Jake Epping, an English teacher who accepts the monumental mission of trying to prevent the assassination of JFK. Luckily, he has the help of Sadie Dunhill (Sarah Gadon), a resourceful librarian who's trying to reconcile secrets of her own. Executive produced by J.J. Abrams and based upon the bestselling novel by Stephen King.

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From 1960's action and adventure to suspenseful sci-fi yet historical thrills this time traveling mini-series starring James Franco grew more and more exciting with each episode, and you won't see the ending coming!

Adaptations of Stephen King stories are all over the map in terms of quality. This is one of the better efforts. The novel is huge so a miniseries makes sense. Slight changes were made for this TV adaptation and that's fine. King, apparently, had a tight grip on the script, casting, and pretty much everything else. Most of it was shot in small towns near Toronto, Canada. Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas was used as well. Schomberg, Ontario, Canada subbed for Main Street, Holden, Kentucky - including a cool overhead shot from a drone. The Scruffy Duck bar/pub in Schomberg was a key scene as a Holden bar where lead character James Franco meets key characters Tom Turcotte and Frank Dunning. Lots of other Ontario towns lend locations: Guelph, Orono, Ayr's Queen's Tavern, Hamilton GO Station, Orono, Downsview Toronto.

Stephen King is back on my radar! The President Kennedy assassination, a topic of interest to many, drew me to this item in the catalogue. I did not even realise this was a mini-series until I pressed play. This adaption from book to screen is beautifully done with attention to detail for the period setting of the early 1960's in the USA.

The underlying premise of the story centres on Jake's journey back to 1960 and attempt to change history by confirming Lee Harvey Oswald was indeed the killer and thus stopping the assassination.

James Franco's central character Jake steers the story and keeps the viewer engaged. The cast of characters for Jake include the well played "brother" Billy, love interest Sadie and mentor Al played by Chris Cooper.

Will Jake change the course of history? But this is fiction, certainly inspired by true events and it is an engaging story that takes us for a ride...

This is a pretty good adaptation of the excellent Stephen King book- it doesn't go as far as King does but it gets the basic idea right. One thing about the series was that the lead James Franco very often seems to be on the verge of smirking- basically he's not a good actor as he can't carry off the basic function of an actor- being believable. Still if you're a fan of Stephen King then this mini-series is worth watching ( Franco isn't totally off putting like he is in most of his projects ).

Quotes

All right. Do you think that if JFK lived, Robert Kennedy would've run for president, seriously?
-It's doubtful.
So, if Bobby doesn't run, that means no Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968. Save JFK, save his brother. And that's what I mean about the butterfly effect. Then there's Vietnam.
-Uh, okay, so if you save JFK, then there's no Vietnam?
Johnson was the one who escalated everything in Nam. If Kennedy had survived, no way does that escalation continue. Those boys... would've lived.
-Al, I get it, but changing the past to make it how you think it should be just seems...
You think Vietnam unfolded exactly as it should have, that recent American history was just hunky-dory? Saving JFK is a theory. You don't know what it's gonna change! You know what I know? You save Kennedy's life, you make the world a better place. Don't you want to do any fucking thing that matters?
-God damn it! Al. I... You don't know that what you do in the past is gonna change anything here.

"How, looking thus into your eyes and seeing thus, how each of you is a creature that never in all time existed before and which will never in all time exist again..." "How am I to speak of thee as tenants, farmers, representatives of your class, social integers in a criminal economy, or as fathers, wives, sons, daughters, individuals, as my friends and as I know thee?" ... That's James Agee. He knew what it was like to be a man. He knew what made us great. He saw guys like you. You know, the little guys at the bottom, struggling in the dirt, because that's... That's where the real stuff of life is.

And every time I tried, something would come up. I'd get a flat tire, a fender bender, a little tree in the road. Lost count of the times I tried. I know it sounds strange, like mysticism or some horseshit, but things would happen, and they were both random and, oh... not random at all.
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There ain't no such thing as a war hero. ... Well, hell, sometimes people have to do terrible things in order to make the world a better place, and... that's a kind of heroism, right?
===
When "Time" magazine asked President Eisenhower for an example of a major idea of Nixon's that he had adopted as part of a decision-making process, the President's response was... If you give me a week, I might think of one.
===
Anyway, for as long as there have been slaughterhouses, the worst job that you could possibly have... Was to work the hide cellar.

As Winston Churchill said, "If we open a quarrel between the present and the past" ... "We shall be in danger of losing the future. For the world is changing. The old ways will not do."
===
No matter what this looks like, I didn't do a bad thing.
- God knows what's in your heart, Mr. Amberson. He'll be the final judge. I hope you're prepared for that.
===
Now, you don't just walk up and kill a man.
-Sometimes you do, and right now is the time.
You don't know what's gonna happen.
-I do. I know.
===
You feeling a little under the weather?
-Yes, sir. Yes, I am.
Well, I suggest a diet of white foods.
-What?
Bananas, breads, rice.

Apologies are like dandelions, Mr. Amberson. They're pretty enough, and they sprout up fast, but they don't have much substance.
===
I know more than people know here yet.
-Don't you know everything?
No. Not everything. That's what scares me.
===
You ever read that book "Catcher in the Rye"?
-Yes, sir.
You think it ought to be in the library?
- Uh...
Yes? That book has prostitution in it, among other things.
-Well, Principal Simmons, we do call ourselves the land of the free, home of the brave. I think we can handle it.
...
But, of course, that Salinger book is never going to be in the library. Hell will freeze over before it is.

The hardest part about living in the past is that everything you tell everybody will be a lie.
===
There are bad people in this world, people who would seduce a man's wife, and someone has to do something about it.
- I'm from a different morality, product of another time. No one understands what I need to do for the greater good.
===
Tomorrow anything can happen, and it will. All we can do is try and be ready.
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Pretend you can go back in time. You go back in time, and you can change one thing... One thing to alter history. What would you do?
- Kill Hitler.
-No, kill Saddam Hussein.
- You'd kill Hussein over Hitler?
- How about we go to 1930 when Hitler and Stalin met and kill them both?
- Hitler and Stalin never met.
- Okay, lots of killing going on.
-Or we could go back and kill Homer so we wouldn't have to read this dumb book.

I can deal with a lot of things, Jake, but I can't abide a liar.
-All right, I was lying. Yes, I was leaving, but it was for your own good.
If I hear that from a man one more time, I'm gonna punch his teeth out.
===
A man who's lost his purpose is a man who's scared to death.
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People don't come from the future. That's all in comic books.
===
You ever shoot?
-I'm from Kentucky. You find a man from Kentucky who doesn't shoot, I'll give you a dollar.
===
You mess with the past, it messes back.
===

You came here for a reason, Jake. Now it's my reason too.
===
You might remember Deke Simmons, and some of you may recall that little poem that he... That he loved... That he kept on copies on his desk so that he could hand them out to troublesome students... or students that were troubled. Well, this was the poem:
"We did not ask for this room or this music. We were invited in. Therefore, because the dark surrounds us, let us turn our faces to the light. Let us endure hardship to be grateful for plenty. We have been given pain to be astounded by joy. We have been given life to deny death. We did not ask for this room or this music. But because we are here, let us dance."